Avan, Ivan and everything in between

I knew I had to watch Avan Ivan. Despite the reviews. Despite reluctant companions who cribbed any film that was not booked out on a weekend was bound to be a disaster. I knew a Bala film could not be bad, however violent or foul-mouthed it might turn out to be.

And yet, I was still unprepared for the feast when the opening scenes began to roll.

Avan Ivan is a bold attempt at creating characters and setting a milieu even as Bala forsakes the plot. But it is that rivetting kind of film-making that just about dispenses with the plot with little deletrious effects.

I’d tweeted about the opening sequences – where an entire village gets ready to fete their ‘ighness’ a former local prince in a sad state of decline. It sets the tone, then, for the film and I remember remarking to myself that if the rest of the film was half as interesting as its intro, it would suffice. Bala begins, not only to add colour by introducing local culture, but also etches deeply two characters who would go on to dominate the film -‘ighness’ played to a T by Director Kumar, and Walter Vanagamudi essayed brilliantly by Vishal (how does he manage that squint unerringly even if underwater?)

So much so that I think ‘ighness’ is one of the finest portrayals in Indian cinema I have watched in recent years. He is the central character of the film, nevermind the title, it is about Avan or Ivan only marginally. ‘aInessu’ as the locals call him is an original. A character so well etched, from his braggadacio, to his childlike laughter, his stuck-on moustache, his dips in the pond for being insulted in front of foreigners, legal battles that threaten to impoverish him further, his pride, and then, in the end his absolute lack of it.

Apart from ‘ighness’, the only two other characters that are fleshed out are those of Walter and his half brother Kumbidaren Samy (Arya). The conflict rests between them, just as peace and a sense of brotherhood does. Apparently, Arya is the masculine element, the yang to his half-brother’s more effeminate yin. Even his mother (good comeback role chides him constantly for being effemintedAnd yet, it is Vishal, the cross dressing thief, with a heart that melts, who is the aggressor in the fights. It is Walter who is the man of action in the climax, while Kumbidaren Samy simply collapses, distraught with grief; it is the same Walter that wreaks a violent revenge typical of a Bala film.

Even when he portrays subsidiary characters – the heroines, the inspector (classic scene when he faints at the barrage of abuse from the boys’ mothers), the mothers, the marginal henpecked father – there are an essential part of the mileu, bolstering the natural situational comedy.

And that is where this Bala film distinguishes itself by being light, and unpretentious. Of course, with the Suriya – Laila segment in in Pithamagan, Bala had already exhibited his potential for hilarity. I can’t help feeling pleased that he has decided to rely on this instinct for a surprisingly substantial part of the film.

So, what grates? That cheesy dance scene with Suriya wowing Vishal’s overacting; I would have appreciated a story, instead of a belated introduction of vengeance with the cattle smuggler; songs are not completely memorable; the debate about giving an A certificate given the intense and bloody violence; and well, not much else. What is that in a count of all the stuff that is wrong with Tamil movies.